


housed by your warmth, thus transformed

by ThunderstormsandMemories



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Venom (2018) Fusion, Meet-Cute, Other, Secret Samol 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderstormsandMemories/pseuds/ThunderstormsandMemories
Summary: in which Sokrates uncovers some crimes being committed by their parents' corporation, breaks into a science lab, and gets possessed by an alien intelligence (aka Sokrates/Integrity: Venom AU)
Relationships: Sokrates Nikon Artemisios/Integrity
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	housed by your warmth, thus transformed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bipolyjack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bipolyjack/gifts).



> thank you so much to bipolyjack for asking for Sokrates/Integrity content and especially specifically suggesting a Venom AU because this was extremely fun to write!!
> 
> content warnings for a bit of mild violence and references to Sokrates's canonical not-great family situation
> 
> title from Shrike by Hozier bc I had Wasteland, Baby! on repeat while writing this

“And don’t forget, there’s that dinner tonight with all of those OriCon executives, so make sure you leave enough time to change after you get home from work.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Sokrates flapped a hand dismissively at Euanthe, who did not notice this due to being on the other end of a phone call and not actually in the same room as their sibling, and typed in a few lines of code. “Not like anyone at the gala would know fashion if it bit them in the ass.”

“Behave yourself in front of the donors,” Euanthe said, less like they were giving an order and more like a plea. “I don’t care what nonsense any of the reps say, you’re not allowed to make fun of their suit, no matter how boring or poorly tailored it is.” Euanthe made a small noise of disapproval following this pronouncement, at the thought of someone wearing a boring suit to an Apostolos Corporation event. For all of the many things Euanthe and their parents nagged them about, Sokrates would never embarrass Euanthe by dressing _boring_. Sometimes they went a little too far in the other direction, even for them, like that time with the sequins and the leather at what was supposed to be a black tie event, but no one could ever accuse them of not making a splash.

“Whatever,” Sokrates said again. “I’ll be there, stop worrying. You worry too much.”

“I worry the exact right amount,” Euanthe said. “I know you.”

“Love you too,” Sokrates said.

Euanthe laughed, warm and genuine, and said, “Just be on time. Wouldn’t want to get the party started without you.”

“You know I’m gonna the one bringing the party,” Sokrates said, and Euanthe was still laughing when Sokrates hung up on them, bringing their attention back to their computer screen.

And then, almost as abruptly, Sokrates’s smiled faded, their fingers frozen above the keyboard as they read the lines of text glowing on their screen. It was what they’d been looking for, and what they’d hoped desperately they wouldn’t find.

The file name was DIVINES, the Division of Innovation, Vision, and Integration of Nanotechnology and Extraterrestrial Studies, which Sokrates thought sounded like someone was trying a little too hard to come up with a cool-sounding acronym. They wondered who came up with it, probably someone in marketing, someone who thought that a snappy name was enough to make up for the fact that they were talking about some startlingly unethical science that bypassed the realm of corporate law and veered straight into potential war crime territory, never mind that Apostolos on paper was an energy company and shouldn’t have been doing any sort of weapons testing at all.

Sokrates used to think their research was helping people, which sounded horribly naive now but they did honestly believe that when they started working in the family business, if the term family business could even be applied to multi-million dollar corporation that just happened to belong to their parents. They’d been slowly realizing that maybe the truth was a little more complicated, and not in a good way, but there had never been anything specific they could point to other than a vague suspicion that something wasn’t right. But now this. They couldn’t stay here, they didn’t know if they could ever look their parents in the eyes again. Even Euanthe, if they knew. Cass probably didn’t, but Euanthe was more involved in the management side than Sokrates was, Euanthe was seen as more reliable by their parents, if any of the kids were told about this sort of thing, it was Euanthe. Which meant Sokrates couldn’t trust them either. And even though Cass probably wasn’t aware, they were off at med school, busy, hadn’t had time for Sokrates in years. It wasn’t that there was bad blood between them, there just wasn’t much of anything any more. Certainly not enough that Sokrates could trust them with this. No, this had to be made public immediately, and they had to hope that Cass was out of the way of the fallout, and maybe, if they were really really lucky, that Cass might someday forgive them.

After that they didn’t let themself think about what they were doing, just emailed themself everything they could find and forwarded the whole thing to Addax, and then a message explaining what it was, which they probably should’ve sent first considering they hadn’t spoken much since graduation and “here, have some top secret evidence implicating my entire family in some super illegal unethical science and also possibly war crimes” probably wasn’t the best way to break the ice. Addax hadn’t really approved of Sokrates going into the family business immediately after graduation, something about how corrupt and ethically dubious it was, which Sokrates had been annoyed about at the time because that was their _family_ Addax was insulting, even though in hindsight he wasn’t actually wrong. But if anyone knew what to do with this kind of information, it was Addax, and maybe seeing that Sokrates was trying to do the right thing would go part of the way toward mending their friendship.

And sure enough, a few minutes later Sokrates’s phone buzzed with messages from Addax that contained, along with several texts asking if they were okay, if they needed help, where were they, did they need Addax to come find them right now immediately, a phone number and the words _Jamil Quartz-Noble, Counter/Weight Courier._

—

The lab was dark, lit only by the faint glow of computers that never turned off, their faint hum the only sound other than Sokrates’s footsteps. They were doing their best to be stealthy, but quiet had never been their strong suit, as their parents and every teacher they’d ever had were so fond of telling them. They grimaced, thinking about the last time they’d seen their parents, which they’d been doing such a good job avoiding thinking about recently, except in the unavoidable abstract as the explanation for their current living situation. It had been months since the gala, months since they'd spoken to their family, months since they'd lost any chance of having a job in their field.

But they weren't just here to reminisce over their old workplace. They were here because there had to be more proof of the experiments from that file they’d found, something tangible that couldn’t be denied or litigated away.

They’d started their search on one of the floors that had always been marked as undergoing renovation as long as they’d been working there, and when they pushed aside the plastic sheeting and caution tape, they saw just how much of a lie that had been. There were rows and rows of softly blinking computer lights, desks that were very clearly occupied during the day, and beyond that a corridor bordered by apparently empty rooms constructed entirely of glass.

Their stolen ID badge opened the door of the first of these rooms, and Sokrates was convinced it was empty until they almost tripped over something small and metallic in one corner. It was a strange shape, curled up and patterned almost like scales, and there was something about it that made them need to take a closer look. When they leaned down to pick it up, the material was cool beneath their hand but somehow softer than metal should have been, and it still never occurred to them that picking it up might not be the greatest idea until they were holding it, but something about it felt right, almost familiar, about the the way it fit in their hands. And then it began to move.

Sokrates yelped but didn't drop it. First it uncurled itself into a shape like a walking stick, or a spine, and then it slithered its way up Sokrates’s arm and around their shoulder and down their back, latching onto their spine from the small of their back to the nape of their neck while they stood frozen in surprise. It didn’t hurt, exactly, at least not any more than any of their tattoos, small pinpricks mostly overshadowed by a weird numbing buzz vibrating into their skin. The strange feeling settled, sank into their skin like a shiver running down their spine, like a haircut they weren’t yet used to and couldn’t stop trying to touch, and they were just reaching up and around to feel the cool metal ridge that now ran up their back when they heard a voice, reverberating inside their mind, so all-encompassing they couldn’t tell if it was out loud or not.

_THANK YOU._

Sokrates covered their ears instinctively, but it didn’t help the stabbing pain that shot through their skull, worse than the worst headache they’d ever had.

 _Apologies_ , said the voice, quieter this time, or at least somehow gentler, because Sokrates was realizing that they couldn’t actually hear anything with their ears beyond their own frantic breathing. _I am Integrity. I am glad to meet you._

“Yeah, same,” said Sokrates. “Probably. Sorry if this is rude but like, I read some files…” They recognized the name Integrity from the data they’d found, all those months ago, though the notes had been inconclusive and not especially helpful in any way. As far as Sokrates had known until a few seconds ago, Integrity was just another silly code name some scientist with too much time on their hands and too high an opinion of their own cleverness had come up with to attach to whatever potentially extraterrestrial intelligence they’d happened across. Well. ‘Happened across’ might be putting it generously and also extremely euphemistically. It would likely be more accurate to say that Integrity, whatever Integrity might be, had been stolen from some archaeological site where Apostolosian researchers had absolutely no business being.

 _I am not from this planet_ , said Integrity helpfully.

“Cool,” said Sokrates. “I am. My name’s Sokrates.” They didn’t give their full name, had fallen out of the habit of telling people who they were

 _I know that_ , said Integrity. _I have absorbed all information found in this lab’s databases, including personnel files._

“Neat,” said Sokrates. “Not sure how I feel about that, but it’s a neat trick. Wish I could upload information instead of studying for exams like some kind of nerd.”

Sokrates suddenly saw, so vividly they almost thought they back in university, an image of themself hunched over a desk, notebooks spread out open in front of them covered in scrawled formulas that were incomprehensible to anyone except them, and sometimes couldn’t be understood even then. The image was accompanied by the impression that they were being gently teased, that this would make them a nerd, by their own logic, and they knew Integrity was the one implying this. “Yeah,” they said, “that was the joke.” But it was a joke they used to share with Cass, because Cass was going into pre-med at around the same time Sokrates was working on their engineering doctorate, and it was a toss-up which one of them had more soul-crushing schoolwork on a daily basis, so obviously the only way to cope was to make fun of each other for being dorks and choosing courses of study with absurdly heavy workloads.

 _Now you can_ , said Integrity, _because I am with you_.

“Okay,” said Sokrates. “Good to know I can cheat on exams now. Hey, that doesn’t sound very integrity-ish… integral… whatever the adjective form of integrity is.”

 _I would not have chosen you if you were the type of person who would only use me for petty personal goals, instead of doing what is right._ _Also, you do not have to respond out loud. You just need to direct your thoughts toward me_.

“Cool,” said Sokrates, out loud. “That’s gonna be useful probably.” Then they grinned and said, _Wanna see what else we can find in here?_

 _I already downloaded the schematics of this lab_ , Integrity said. _There are several other top secret projects I think you might find interesting._

 _By interesting you mean the kind of thing that I should definitely only leak to the press if I wanna destroy my family’s reputation even worse than last time?_ Sokrates wasn’t sure how much Integrity knew about that incident but just in case, as they thought the words they also concentrated on a series of images to give Integrity an impression of how well that had gone: the headline flashing across the screen at the gala, the stoney look of disappointment on their parent’s face, the utter shock and betrayal on Euanthe’s, Cass’s phone ringing through to voicemail, staggering home only to realize they weren’t welcome there anymore.

 _You did the right thing_.

_Yeah._

The moment stretched out into awkward silence, only broken when Sokrates, impatient and tired of waiting for Integrity to say anything even remotely comforting, tried to swipe their stolen badge at the heavy, opaque door at the end of the corridor, setting off the security system they’d been so careful to avoid, and any chance of further conversation was lost in the blare of alarms and flashing red lights and pounding footsteps of security guards, too loud to even think clearly, and they ran.

They almost made it to the stairwell before the security guards, too well-armed to be working anywhere that didn’t have something to hide, had them cornered. Integrity hummed thoughtfully, as if working out their chances of success, which Sokrates thought were probably not very high, if you were considering success to mean both of them escaping alive. Maybe Integrity had a different, more achievable, definition. But Integrity did not offer any insight, and Sokrates opened their mouth to try to bluff their way out, which probably wouldn’t work but was better than doing nothing.

And then the gunshot rang out, and Sokrates threw up their arm instinctively to cover their face, even as they knew how stupid it was, that their arm could not stop a bullet from ruining their face, and after they’d spent so long doing their makeup, too. All that work, all those times they’d jabbed themself in the eye with the mascara wand, gone to waste. Not to mention they’d be dead.

But instead there was a second sound that followed the gunshot, another sharp crack, this time accompanied by sudden sparks blinding Sokrates for a moment, and a dull ache in their arm, and then a crash as the bullet shattered the window behind them instead.

And when Sokrates opened their eyes, the first thing they saw was the shock and confusion on the security guards’ faces, visible even through the flashing lights of the alarm system, and the second was the layer of metallic scales covering their arm.

 _You’re welcome_.

“Holy shit,” Sokrates said, frantically trying to remember everything that file from so many months ago had said about extraterrestrial nanoarmor and especially how safe it was for the person wearing it, as the nanobots quickly and systematically covered the rest of their arm, then their other arm, their torso, their legs, everything except their face.

 _Armor mode activated_ , said Integrity. _Engaging weapons mode_.

“Hey wait,” said Sokrates, “you don’t need to-”

But Integrity was already moving, moving Sokrates’s limbs along with them, and it was such a dizzying sensation that Sokrates squeezed their eyes shut while Integrity fended off their attackers and threw several people across the room with force that absolutely would not have been possible for Sokrates on their own. When they opened their eyes, the room was a wreck of broken furniture and shattered glass and bodies strewn across the floor, and Sokrates had a horrifying thought.

“Did you just kill people?”

 _We used non-lethal force. Would you prefer I killed them? I did not think it was just or necessary._ There was an edge to Integrity’s words, almost judgmental and a little surprised, which Sokrates thought was a bit much considering they were basically strangers, and even extraterrestrial robot intelligences didn’t get to be surprised by the actions of strangers.

“No! Of course not! We’re not doing any murders! I just don’t want anyone following us.”

 _Good_ , Integrity said. _We will not be followed_. And then, before Sokrates had a chance to voice, or even think, their objections, Integrity stepped over the shards of broken glass that Sokrates couldn’t even feel through the armor covering their feet and jumped out of the broken window.

“A little warning next time,” said Sokrates, once they recovered their breath from both falling and also yelling the entire way down. The nanoarmor absorbed the shock of the impact, so somehow they hadn’t broken every bone in their body, but they thought it was still entirely fair of them to be a bit upset about suddenly being flung out of a fifth story window.

 _We were not flung_ , Integrity said, sending flashing of indignation through Sokrates’s mind. _We jumped. It was a perfectly calculated maneuver._

 _Yeah, well, next time calculate for me preferring to learn about things like that ahead of time_.

 _I will do that_. The armor retracted, and Sokrates shivered as the cool night air brushed across their newly bared skin. _Are you hurt?_

 _I mean, not physically_ , said Sokrates, examining their forearm for a bruise where by all rights there should have been a bullet hole. Their legs felt shaky, like they’d just run a 5k and then chugged an energy drink with a few extra shots of espresso, but they thought might be more due to the reality of what they’d done setting in than anything physical. Speaking of which, it was probably a good idea to put a little bit more distance between them and the place where they’d just been caught breaking and entering.

 _I’m sorry_.

 _I’m not hurt_ , Sokrates insisted, taking a deep breath, shoving their shaking hands into their pockets, and starting to walk away, the alarms growing fainter behind them, blending into the rest of the city street noise. _You didn’t hurt me, it’s fine, we’re fine. I was just a little bit, y’know, startled. I don’t usually get shot at or fall out of buildings._ Integrity grumbled but didn't correct them about the whole falling thing.

By the time they were a few blocks away, Sokrates’s hands weren’t shaking anymore, and they were starting to realize where their feet were taking them, in the exact opposite direction of their own apartment, toward the neighborhood where Addax and Jace had been living last time they’d checked. Which, granted, hadn’t been too recently. They’d stayed with them for a few days, after the disastrous gala, before finding their own place, but Sokrates had been busy rebuilding their life, and the case against Apostolos had crumbled in the absence of any more concrete evidence, and Jace was busy writing his dissertation, and Addax was busy working at whatever his mysterious new job was, which may or may not have been the same mysterious new job Jamil had switched to after her journalism career stalled because no one particularly believed her story about Apostolos and therefore didn’t trust her as a credible journalist anymore. She and Sokrates weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment.

Last time Sokrates had asked their friends for help it hadn’t ended well for any of them. This time would different. It had to be.

 _This time you have me_ , Integrity said, and then, again: _I’m sorry._

 _Everything’s gonna be fine_ , Sokrates said. _Remember, I have you now._

Instead of answering in words, Integrity treated Sokrates to a dizzying series of impressions that Sokrates struggled to make sense of: other beings like Integrity except not, in all shapes and sizes, from robots the size of high-rises to what looked like a sentient computer virus, explosions silhouetted against the stars, debates that raged silently in computer code and telepathic bond, and underneath it all, the feeling of loneliness so intense it brought tears to Sokrates’s eyes and stopped them in their tracks. A fellow pedestrian bumped into them, elbowing them and then rubbing their elbow in pain as Integrity extended their armor automatically to protect Sokrates's ribs. But it reminded Sokrates that they were still in the middle of the sidewalk, and they sat on the curb heavily, because this was turning into the kind of conversation that was too emotionally tiring to have while walking.

 _Yeah_ , said Sokrates. _I get it_. _You’ve got me now too._

Sokrates felt Integrity’s armor unfurling, slowly, hesitantly, from just below the nape of their neck and spreading gently across their shoulders and around their upper arms, like a hug. Sokrates patted the armored patch of their shoulder softly. _Thanks_. They let their hand linger there, tracing the grooves in the metal, and they felt something in Integrity’s mind relax as the some of the tension in the armor around their shoulders eased, and Sokrates could breathe easier than they had in what felt like months. They stayed like that for a while, long enough that the silence was comfortable, a shared understanding instead of an awkward absence.

 _Let’s go talk to your friends_ , Integrity said finally. _We need a plan._

 _We're in this together now,_ Sokrates said, giving Integrity one last comforting shoulder pat before standing up _. They’re gonna be your friends too_.

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally going to be longer with more of a Plot and the characters who were mentioned were actually gonna show up but it was getting a lil too unwieldy so I cut it back a bit BUT I'm not ruling out writing more of this at some point like. I can't promise anything but don't be surprised if there's a sequel
> 
> anyway come find me over on twitter @s_artemisios if you wanna yell abt Sokrates, Integrity, or any and all references to the Kingdom Game in Partizan bc I am Emotional


End file.
